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Log InAn unsolved murder at Portland’s infamous Paranoid Park brings detectives to a local high school, propelling a young skater into a moral odyssey where he must not only deal with the pain and disconnect of adolescence but the consequences of his own actions. As director of “My Own Private Idaho”, “Good Will Hunting”, “To Die For” and “Elephant”, Gus Van Sant has created some of the most memorable films about youth ever committed to film. At the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, he was awarded the 60th Anniversary Prize for “Paranoid Park” which is largely considered one of his finest films. Based on the novel by Blake Nelson & photographed by the incomparable Christopher Doyle (”In the Mood for Love”; “2046″), the film has captivated audiences worldwide, becoming a unanimous standout at the Cannes, New York and Toronto Film Festivals.
A teenage art-flick, Paranoid Park proves the most fluent and coherent of Gus Van Sant’s recent experiments. Part crime mystery, part coming-of-age story, it’s positively overflowing with burnished imagery and adolescent turmoil.
Official Site (English) | Review (English) | Review (Deutsch)
May 16th, 2008 at 18:26
Gus Vant Sant’s new masterpiece. One of the best movies ever made about teenage boys.
May 16th, 2008 at 18:58
Not everything that wants to be regarded as artsy stuff has real substance. Even as someone who liked Drugstore Cowboy, My own private Idaho and Elephant, I have to say: Paranoid Park is one boring ass flick, who tries to cover its paper thin plot with overlong slowmos of depressed skater boys. I may understand van Sants urge to hang around gorgeous skater guy, but please do some fetish porn instead of crappy movies like these. There isnt even enough going on to make up for a short movie, let alone a feature film. And the boy cant act. Some US-Critic wrote: the voice overs suggest that reading aloud is not something that comes naturaly to the amateur actor, and thats right on the mark. If you need a excuse to gaze at underage teen boys watch Elephant, at least it offers some insights and idead. Paranoid Park is just one overblown bore, where you cant get rid of the feeling that van Sant had more fun shooting, than the audience has watching…
May 17th, 2008 at 01:06
looks nice to me!
May 17th, 2008 at 01:29
I think I want to watch this now! It’s garnered a 7.2 on IMDB, so it can’t be that bad.
May 17th, 2008 at 04:28
Transformers shows 7.5 at the imdb - that should tell you something, about the credibility of user-votes ;)
“Van Sant’s … adoration of uncommunicative kids with limited vocabularies and awesome hair is beginning to wear a little thin.”
“Regarding Paranoid Park as an elongated short rather than a feature helps a bit, because it’s a miniature in spirit — a small-format portrait of psychic malaise that just happens to last 84 minutes.”
May 17th, 2008 at 04:32
hey batz:
I for one tink this flic is good. Not only is it a atmospheric visual maserpiece, but it also has one of the best soundtracks of any film I’ve seen in the last few years. It’s not a “crappy movie” because you can’t appreciate visual cinematography, it’s not only just about beatuful boys, it also captured a feeling of alienation, perhaps teenage disaffection of the adult world- visualised by the blurry, out of focus or frame parents of the main actor. The boy is not a bad actor, but a ingenious representation of that uncertain age.
Or you can read it as an analogy to a gay initiation, like Amy Taubin did.
It’s not “boring ass”, it’s a piece of art that’s probably only enjoyable with a more sophisticated approach on cinema than the usual “Here I am now, entertain me!”
“Oh no, there’s no linear plotline to catch my attention. Damn, I don’t understand it on the first viewing, so I guess it sucks!”
You have got to put some effort into your viewing, or you will be endlessly disappointed of any film that’s even a tiny bit demanding
If you have got no knowledge, no standpoint, no point of view as a somehow educated viewer, then no film can reach you. I’d say, in this case the art is in the eye of the beholder.
May 17th, 2008 at 09:56
@ kollio:
“I’d say, in this case the art is in the eye of the beholder.”
I agree, but this basic truth goes both ways. Just because someone doesn’t like a film, an actor, a plot line or whatever, that doesn’t mean he didn’t put effort into viewing or couldn’t grasp the so-called depth of the movie. Your reaction to anonther opinion about the flick (and that’s all it is in the end - another opinion) was to be condescending, which was uncalled for.
Art is a tricky thing and not everyone will relate to or appreciate the same things.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:23
We have some friends who did not like Paranoid Park at all. We can understand that some people like Batz find this movie boring. It is not an easy movie to get into. You may feel the same for a movie like Wild Tigers I Have Known… There are both real works of art but you may be not sensible to it.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:38
Its way to easy to bash someone who don’t likes the picture as someone who is too dumb to understand it. But maybe it’s the other way around: Not everything that dresses up as deep and thoughtful really has to be. People often are easily impressed by fancy and somewhat stylish pictures. And the tendency to defend flicks that are plain boring as real great art, just because there are some nice boys to look at, is widespread among a certain peer group. Last Days was a boring and quite overblown movie too, but because there wasnt any cuties in it, a lot less people seemed to care and rush to its defence. And sorry but the teen alienation-bandwagon has be driven to death, there are movies galore who keep telling you how hard it is to be a teen and yadda yadda yadda - and frankly most of them are better than paranoid park. its not as if van sant has anything new to tell here. even the watchable elephant fades in comparrison with the much better Zero Day.
Wild tigers… as it is mentioned, is a flawed movie, but its also a very watchworthy one. Its way from perfect, but is has a certain creepiness and keeps you involved. you really do give a shit about the protagonist. in paranoid park there is nothing that suggest that the boy has anything besides his looks, that makes him attetionworthy, intelligent or even remotely interesting. he’s a bore and not a very likeable one. i’d compare the movie to the graffiti artist, a similar boring flick which also focuses on quite stupid people that cant articulate properly and whose stories I couldnt care less for. I’ll rather watch Whole New thing or Tarnation for the 10th time before enduring these flicks again…
May 17th, 2008 at 16:39
Watched it yesterday on DVD. Good movie, really sensitive.
And I must say; beautifull boys and some nice shirtless shots!
May 18th, 2008 at 04:13
I adore this film. It’s beautiful. So is the boy. Painfully so. Ouch.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:01
[...] ich bei Josh seinen Artikel über den Film Paranoid Park gelesen hatte, hab ich mich gleich aufgemacht und [...]
May 20th, 2008 at 04:03
I watched the movie and I’d have to say it’s pretty bland. The dead pan performance by the lead didn’t really work in my opinion and as mentioned the story itself was pretty thin. If they were just trying to sell it on mood then I think that approach failed. Maybe it would make a good music video? but compared to something like ‘kids’ or ‘a whole new thing’ it didn’t measure up.
May 24th, 2008 at 23:22
Wow i havent seen this movie but would be awsome ass hell!!!